Kefir

[wildburkey]

I traded a few homebrews with a bloke for some milk kefir grains and vegies so thought I'd share my adventures while seeking to take on board advice.

I started with roughly a desert spoon full of kefir grains/ culture stored in rainwater and added them to 250ml of store bought milk. I left it for 24hrs at room temp in a bread compartment out of the light, strained into a glass to drink, put the grains back into the jar they came from, then added another 250ml of milk. (it didn't seem to have done too much to the milk)

Yesterday morning's (2nd) batch that I strained from the culture jar (green lid) still seemed quite thin and only smelt slightly 'yoghurty', so I decided to leave it out for a second ferment which can be seen in jar with the black lid in the photo.

I've stored the black jar in the fridge for the night and not too sure what the hell I have here exactly but I'm planning on just mixing it all up and eating it for breakfast. The grey lid jar is sitting out for a second ferment with the culture jar at room temp again for the moment.

 

[peteru]

You really need to upload higher resolution pictures to give a better idea of what you have.

Temperature might be an issue. I am by far no expert, but I think you'd need to keep the culture around the 30C mark for optimal outcome. The result should be more like buttermilk rather than yoghurt. It's very likely that supermarket milk might not be up to the task. See if you can get some Jersey milk from somewhere like Harris Farm.

 

[tugger]

You could try an easy yo thermos and jar.

 

[wildburkey]

Cheers, my room temp is quite stable at 20c and every new generation seems to be fermenting faster; possibly due to the increase in the culture colony?
I have been warned against warming it up to quick, I assume it's much like yeast in wort that can be cooled rapidly but not warmed up too fast.
I think it's curds and whey from what I have been finding online; It has a cottage cheese kinda yoghurty smell.
About to go mix it up and give it a try so I'll snap a few pics and give an update on taste.

 

[wildburkey]

The one that had possibly separated into curds and whey was slightly more acidic tasting and was hard to mix together, while the other one I left overnight after separating the grain had something between a yoghurt and milk taste (still slightly acidic). I don't really know how to describe the taste really tho, this is the best description I can come up with.
I think I'll stick to drinking the thinner version because I don't really like the lumpy texture after 48hrs, I'll try blend it at some point as I think I prefered the one with the longer ferment.
I have to go in to work so had to do this a bit quick this morning but will add more photos if anyone is interested.